Alice's POV-
It's been about half an hour since Renesmee showed my family our way to our rooms. I've spent the time investigating the closet and unpacking for both Jasper and I. Meanwhile, Jasper has been sitting on the bed, silently staring at the wall. He's never been much of a talker, but he wasn't typically this quiet. I closed the double doors to the closet and took a seat next to my love. He turned his head to look at me and gave me a sweet smile. I ran my fingers through his wavy blonde hair.
"What's wrong, Jazz?" I asked him, knowingly. He wrapped his arm around my waist and an inquisitive look crossed his face.
"I'm not even sure." He told me. I was confused at this point. "Does something about Renesmee seem a little off to you?" He asked. I smiled, knowing he didn't mean his question in the negative manner it came out as.
"I don't know. She seemed a little nervous, but I guess that's to be expected. I'm sure that she's come across vampires who aren't so accepting of her human side like we are." I told him. He still seemed unsatisfied.
"Maybe, but the whole time we were around her this morning, she was radiating waves of guilt and a little bit of sadness—exponentially so when she was introduced to Edward." Jasper admitted. I shook my head angrily. That jackass. I get being all moody at home. I'm sure I'd be a complete wreck forever too if I ever lost Jasper, but to disrespect this darling girl is just horrendous. I've known Renesmee for all of forty five minutes and I've already come to love her. She was so adorable! It infuriated me that Edward was being such a beast.
I stood up from my place with Jasper and began walking toward the door.
"Where are you going, Darlin'?" He asked me. I gave him a peck on the cheek and answered his question.
"I'm going to go see if I can find Renesmee. She deserves an explanation for Edward's childish behavior." I told him.
"Ali, I think that should be a story that Ed tells for himself." He told me, obviously trying not to offend me. I sighed. He had a point.
"Well, I won't tell her the specifics of what happened, but I do think she deserves to know that his anger isn't her fault." I said. I could see that Jasper still wasn't too on board with my plan, but I was still going anyway. I walked out the door and toward the end of the hall.
I don't recall Renesmee ever mentioning which room was hers, so I walked into the center area of the wing and tried listening for her heartbeat. It was extremely quiet, but I followed it to one of the rooms in the hall opposite where my family was staying. Easy enough, the room that she was in was labeled with an R, which I can only assume stood for her name.
I gave a slight knock and waited for her to answer. Inside her room, I could hear her shuffling around, running around the room before answering the door. I smiled to myself, wondering what she could possibly be doing.
Renesmee's POV-
I can't lie. I was pretty disappointed to find out that my father, someone I idolized for so long, was actually a rude pig. I knew that I should probably just give up hope on the two of us ever getting along, but a part of me still hoped that he would change his ways. Who knows, we still have four days until the ball, after which they will be leaving. I laid back on my bed, thinking about some activities that I could do with my family.
I was interrupted in my thoughts by a knock at the door. That's weird. Normally, my family just walks in. Oh, shoot! It was probably one of the Cullens. I shot up from my bed, scurrying around the room to hide any evidence that Bella is my mother. I internally groaned. I had pictures of the two of us everywhere! I grabbed them all and threw them in my closet quickly before racing to the door. I opened it and was greeted by Alice's smiling face.
"Hey, Alice. What's up?" I asked, nonchalantly. She gave me a knowing smile, probably because she heard me running around my room like a mad woman.
"I was hoping that we could talk." She said. I suddenly grew nervous. What if she figured it out already? It would be no time before everyone else figured it out too! I sighed.
"Okay. Come on in." I stepped aside, allowing her to enter my room. She slowly entered, looking around my room in awe.
"Your room is beautiful. I love all the decorations." She turned to look at me, smiling.
"Thank you. So…uh, what was it that you wanted to talk about?" She took a seat on my bed and looked over at me.
"I actually wanted to apologize." She told me. I was surprised, but relieved that this wasn't a talk about my mother.
"What is there to apologize for?" I asked her. A pained look crossed her face.
"My brother." She told me and I bit my lip. "I can't really get into the specifics, but he made a mistake and he's never recovered from it." She told me. I wondered what that could be. Maybe he said something that he thinks caused my mother to leave. Maybe that mistake isn't even about me or my mom.
"I understand." I told her. She looked at me sympathetically.
"I just feel so awful that he was so rude to you. His anger is just misdirected, and I'm truly sorry that he took it out on you. We never wanted this to happen." She told me. I smiled. At least the rest of my family seems to like me.
"It's not your fault, Alice. I'm pretty sure he's also mad because he can't read my mind." I told her. Alice gave me a confused look that meant that she hadn't known that little detail.
"He can't?" She asked me. I shook my head. "Why?" She asked. I tried to think of a way to answer.
"I'm lucky enough to have a shield watching over me." I chuckled. Alice looked intrigued.
"Well you're lucky. If we want to hide something from Edward, we have to avoid thinking about it or think of something else." She was half smiling. "Hey, do you want to go shopping with Rose and I later today? We need to find something to wear to your ball." I couldn't contain my excitement, and I could feel a huge smile cross my face.
"That sounds great! I mean, I'll have to ask Aro, but I'm sure it will be fine!"
"Please tell me you're joking." I said. I could tell by his face that he wasn't. "Are you kidding me? If I have to bring Jane with me, she's going to make me miserable the whole time. I haven't even seen her since the Cullens got here this morning." I pleaded. Aro gave me a sympathetic look, but I could tell he wasn't changing his mind.
"Renesmee, my darling, Jane and Alec must go with you so that I know you are safe." He told me.
"But the Cullens can protect me!" I told him. He raised his eyebrows.
"Renesmee, you barely know them. I haven't even seen them since well before your birth. Who's to say that if they found out about you that they wouldn't run away with you?" I crossed my arms, incredibly annoyed.
"Aro, they wouldn't." I told him.
"You're probably right, but you are far too precious to be taking chances like that." He stroked my face with his icy cold hand, and I stared at the floor. "I'll let Alec know. Jane is in the kitchen." I sighed and made my way into the kitchen to talk to Jane.
She must have heard me coming because when I walked into the kitchen she was staring at me with her arms crossed. I gave her a guilty smile.
"Hey Janie." I said. She raised her eyebrows at me. I walked over to her, scratching the back of my neck. "So, Aro said that I can go to the mall with Rose and Alice if you come with me. Are you free?" She was still staring at me. She tilted her head and I braced myself.
"Tell me one good reason why I shouldn't call your mom right now and tell her what you've done." Yep. She was angry.
"Okay, I can see you're mad. Let me explain." I told her.
"What could there possibly be to explain, Renesmee?" She asked me. "Your mother is going to be pissed when she finds out." I bit my lip.
"All the more reason not to tell her." I said quietly. Jane scoffed.
"Who are you, and what have you done to Renesmee?" She asked me. I groaned.
"Jane, they're my family. I have a right to know them." I told her.
"Would your mother agree?" She said, pulling out her phone.
"Jane, please don't tell her! The only thing that will happen is that she'll come home early, not learn anything about the human vampire hybrid, she'll see them, and everything will be a mess." I told her. She stopped and looked at me. "Jane, please understand." I pleaded. She put the phone away.
"I can't believe that you would go behind your mother's back like this, Renesmee." She looked disappointed.
"I know you're not going to understand completely, but I just wanted to know the other side of why I am…who I am." I told her. I sat down at the table.
"You've never said anything about wanting to meet them before." She told me.
"That's because I knew Mom would be mad…and sad…and she'd say no." I told her. I could see Jane's barriers breaking down a little.
"You should've told her." She said.
"I couldn't! It would've killed her inside. I didn't want to force her to see them, so I told Aro and he…helped me." I admitted.
"Is there even a vampire-human hybrid in South America?" She asked.
"Yes." I said. Jane looked like she was thinking. "Please don't tell her, Jane." I pleaded again. She sighed to show her frustration.
"Okay." She said. I hopped out of my chair and hugged her.
"Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" I said.
"Hold on!" She said. I stopped. I knew there would be a catch. "When she gets home, you have to tell her." I froze.
"Jane…" I started.
"No. That's my offer. Take it or leave it. I'll be civil to them. I won't tell your mom. I'll forget about the whole thing…but you can't lie to her, Renesmee. She's your mother. She's given up everything for you, and she needs to know the truth." She had a point. I groaned, not even allowing myself to imagine what would happen when she found out.
"Fine." I said. Jane smiled at me.
"It'll be okay, Renesmee." I shook my head at her. "I'll go get ready now." She said before leaving the room. I walked into the living room, and immediately saw Rosalie.
"That sounded intense." She said. Oh, no. This is it. "Don't worry. I didn't hear much. Only that you're keeping a secret from your mother." She smiled devilishly, but I could tell she was only joking. By that time, most of the Cullens were in the living room, even my father.
"It's really not that big of deal." I told her.
"I don't know...Sounded pretty important to me." Alice chipped in.
"Nah, my mom's just a little…overprotective when it comes to me. It's really nothing." I said.
"Speaking of which, where is your mom? I don't believe we've met." Rosalie asked. I can do this. Be smooth, Renesmee. Don't overshare. Don't act suspicious.
"She's in South America right now. Aro found another vampire-human hybrid, so she went to do some research." I said. They looked intrigued.
"Wow, that's so cool! So there's more hybrids." Emmett commented slash asked. I nodded my head.
"Will she be at the ball?" Alice asked.
"Uhh, no. She comes back a few days after." I told them. They looked sad for me. "No- I mean it's okay though. She's not really a fan of dancing anyway." I smiled. Even as a vampire, she has no ability to dance.
"What's her name?" Jasper asked me. I grew nervous. I'm sure he could tell by his facial expression.
"It's…Marie." I told them. That's not her first name, but its still part of her name. It was pretty quiet, but Alice soon spoke.
"Well, she sounds lovely. I'd love to meet her sometime." She gave me a smile. "You ready to go?" She asked. I looked up to see Jane and Alec standing by the door. "I hope you don't mind. Jazz and Emmett are coming too." She added.
"The more, the merrier." I said. "Are you coming, Edward?" I asked. He glanced up at me. He looked surprised. I don't know whether that was because he was invited or because I was being relatively nice. His surprise quickly grew into an annoyed look. Whatever.
"Shopping with you all? No thanks, Princess." He said. I turned and walked out the door with Jane, Alec, and the other Cullens. My father was still being rude, but I wasn't going to give up hope. Maybe, just maybe, I could break down his walls and see the Edward Cullen that my mom had fallen for so many years ago.
Author's Note:
Hey everyone! I hope you liked this chapter. It wasn't super action packed, but it's still important to the story.
I put up a new poll on my channel, so I hope you'll check it out and vote! Or if you'd rather, you can just put your vote in a review.
The poll is "How should Bella find out about the Cullens?"
Options are:
1- Bella comes home early and sees the Cullens
2- When Bella gets home, Renesmee tells her.
3- When she gets home, Bella finds a picture of Renesmee and Edward together.
Feel free to put any other ideas you may have in a review. I'm open to other ideas.
Also, I'd like to know how you guys think Edward should behave now. Should he progressively loosen up to Renesmee as the week goes on or should he keep being extremely rude?
Again, thanks to everyone who has favorited, alerted, and/or reviewed! You guys make me want to keep writing. I love any feedback I can get!
Until next time, Taylor.